Drew Mears, a graduate of Fox Valley Lutheran High School in Appleton, spent four seasons as the Wisconsin Lutheran College football team’s punter from 2022-25.
GREG SEUBERT
His football-playing days are behind him now, but Drew Mears isn’t ready to close the book on the sport just yet.
A three-sport athlete at Appleton’s Fox Valley Lutheran High School, Mears went on to play four seasons of football at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa before graduating in December 2025.
He also competed in basketball and baseball at FVL before graduating in 2022.
“I’d say basketball and football were the sports I was best at – probably a little better at football – and that’s why I went to college for that,” Mears said. “I just enjoyed the camaraderie with the football guys. We were pretty successful at football, so that’s always fun.”
Mears played quarterback and defensive back for the Foxes and also punted, which helped him stand out at Wisconsin Lutheran.
“I loved the idea of having the ball in my hands every play,” he said. “My offensive coordinator was also my neighbor, so we were pretty close. I was at his house all the time. We also had a pass-friendly offense and as a quarterback, that’s a nice thing to have.”
Mears headed to Wisconsin Lutheran to study marketing.
“Inititallly, I was either thinking about going as a receiver or QB my freshman year,” he said. “They saw I was super-athletic and I chose the receiver route to get on the field faster. I’m glad I chose that route.”
FVL to WLC
It didn’t take long for Mears to make his mark with the Warriors, as he took over the punting duties as a freshman and never gave it up in four seasons.
“I didn’t play right away as a receiver my freshman year, so I was very thankful to do the punting role,” he said. “They didn’t have a punter and they saw a little bit of my film from when I was in high school.”
Wisconsin Lutheran’s special teams coach had experience with two NFL teams – the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks – and helped Mears work on his punting skills.
“He knew everything about angles, technique, a bunch of different stuff when it comes to special teams,” Mears said. “I’d say it was my main position freshman and sophomore years. I really got to see the field more as a receiver my junior and senior years.”
Mears showed steady improvement over his four seasons as Wisconsin Lutheran’s punter. His longest punt – 62 yards – came as a freshman in a game against Concordia Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association selected him as its Private College Special Teams Player of the Year in 2025 following a senior season that saw him average a school record 41.3 yards per kick, which led the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. He also made the all-conference first team and ranked 13th among all NCAA Division III punters.
“The last year is when I succeeded in the numbers, awards and things like that,” Mears said. “The Special Teams Player of the Year (Award) was for private schools and recently I went to a cool awards ceremony at Lambeau Field where I got that award. It was a heck of an experience.”
Mears said there’s more to punting than just kicking a football.
“A game-winning field goal puts a lot of pressure on a kicker, but there’s also some pressure on a punter if there’s a blocked punt,” he said.
Not many college athletes have an opportunity to play the same position at the same school for four seasons. Not only did Mears punt for four seasons, he also played receiver and had a career-best seven receptions for 98 yards in September 2024 against Lakeland College.
“A lot of people aren’t fortunate to play a position due to injuries and stuff like that,” Mears said. “I’m grateful to finish my career playing all my games. I got to play two positions as well. It’s kind of weird being a receiver and a punter because I just stayed on the field. It made me punt a little farther for a couple of extra yards because I’m angry that we didn’t get the first down. I could take the anger out on the ball, I guess.”
Mears had to try out for the punting position each season.
“Our special teams coach kind of knew I was the guy, but there were tryouts for the second spot,” he said. “The year before I came, they had a pretty good punter that played for years. They weren’t able to recruit a punter. They knew I punted a little, but that’s not what they recruited me for.”
Less than six months after graduating from FVL, Mears won the punting job on a college team.
“I was very thankful and blessed to have that opportunity,” he said. “Not a lot of people can see the field right away as a freshman. I enjoyed every game I played and had a desire to get better over four years.”
A perfect fit
Mears said he knew Wisconsin Lutheran would be a good fit after football coach Eric Treske recruited him.
“He made me feel like it was a family at WLC and throughout my four years I definitely lived that and got to experience that with the brotherhood,” he said. “I made friends that I’ll know the rest of my life. I’d say the big difference (between FVL and WLC) is everyone coming from everywhere to play football.”
The transfer portal that allows players to change schools wasn’t that big of a factor at WLC, according to Mears.
“We’d get guys transferring out because we always had a lot of extra guys and people would leave because of playing time, being homesick and a lot of different stuff,” he said. “We’d get a handful of good transfers that come in. Two years ago, we were pretty successful at 7-3 and got a couple of good transfers just from the overall recognition of the team that year.”
Mears majored in marketing and Spanish.
“I’m going into finance to try and be a financial adviser,” he said. “I’m in Wauwatosa at Prudential Financial. I like the Milwaukee area. A lot of my buddies from out-of-state are staying in Milwaukee. It’s not too far away from my parents in Appleton, less than two hours.”
No more sports
Mears has spent much of his time over the summers preparing for an upcoming football season, but that won’t be the case this year.
“I’m definitely going to miss it, but I’m grateful to even have the opportunity to play,” he said. “Not a lot of people get that chance. It’s weird watching college sports now and realizing they’re all younger than me and now I have to go to work. I enjoyed and appreciated my time, but I’m ready to move on and maybe coach a little here and there down the road.”
Mears was able to build relationships with coaches and athletes over the years.
“I know so many coaches and players,” he said. “I can reach out if I need anything and they’ll get back to me right away or hang out. I’d say I’m a pretty social guy, so I connect well with different people.
“The beauty of being on a football team is there are so many different teammates,” he added. “We had 90 to 100 guys on the team each year at a smaller college with just over 1,000 kids. That’s 10% of the school’s population. You run into football guys and have them in class all the time. It’s good to have those relationships.”
Mears’ plans for the WLC football team this season is to catch as many games as he can.
“Of my roommates that were captains last year, two of them are graduate assistants on the team,” he said. “They’re very connected with the team and I get to know the inside scoop. I’m definitely going to be supporting them. I’ll always be connected through the WLC community. Down the road, I’d love to get involved with coaching whether it’s at the high school I went to. I’m pretty close with the current coach at FVL and he said if I ever lived in the area, he’d have me on the coaching staff. I may look at that in the future.
“I’d definitely love to give back when it comes to sharing the knowledge of X’s and O’s,” he said. “It’s a passion of mine. I love watching film and dissecting defenses. I’d love to get involved.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF WISCONSIN LUTHERAN COLLEGE
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